Dear Councilman Pahls

September 13, 2014

 Here is my letter to Councilman-on-the-scene Pahls.  

Dear Mr. Pahls,

I would like to encourage you to vote to override the mayor’s veto in support of creating a position dedicated to active transportation in the Public Works Department.  I believe the benefits to of doing so would outweigh the costs.   Creating this position now will continue the momentum Omaha currently has towards becoming a progressive midwestern city with a lot to offer for energetic people who like to get out and move.  I often see people of all ages and backgrounds out enjoying our city’s many multi-use trails.  They may be walking, bicycling, or rollerblading, but one thing they tend to have in common is a smile.  They also seem to be healthy.  These are the kinds of people I am proud to share our city with.

I remember as a kid in the 1970s 1980s riding my bicycle along Q Street to get to the Q Cinema 6 to see a movie.    We did not wear helmets back then, and the shoulder was slender at best.  Luckily I survived and since then I have developed a pretty serious addiction to bicycling.  I reckon there are worse habits!  Since then the Keystone Trail, the Big Papio Trail, the West Papio Trail and the Huntington Park Trail have been built and have greatly increased the quality of my life here in Omaha.  I think many Omahans share this view.  I also am fortunate enough to live about 5 miles from work.  On most days, I am able to bicycle along several multi-use trails then a few side streets to my work.  It keeps me in shape, I save a bit of money that I would be spending on gas, and it’s one less car on the road during what can be a busy commute.  We have come a long way as a city.

I am able to stay healthy and support my family while still enjoying my bicycling habit.  But when friends and colleagues bring up my habitual mode of transport they often seem bemused or concerned for my safety.   I look forward to a time when bicycling is not considered an alternative form of transportation, but a practical and useful way to commute and run daily errands.  The safety aspect is one that I take seriously.  I try to ride somewhat slowly and predictably, especially as I approach intersections.  I always have at least two blinking lights on my bicycle.  I prefer using multi-use trails and side streets when possible.  But I have to admit to myself that it is somewhat dangerous.  Bicycling becomes less dangerous when there are more bicyclists.  This encourages motorists to become more aware of bicyclists and promotes a peaceful and harmonious coexistence.  

Mayor Stothert may believe that multiple means of transport are already viable options in our community.  It is true that we have come a long way.  But there are still many things that we can do to continue to create more versatility in our transportation systems.  I think we need to create an east-west bike lane or multi-use trail to provide more opportunities for bicycle commuters who do not want to ride on roads that are often busy and may not have shoulders.  Cities like Pittsburgh and Minneapolis, as well as smaller cities like Madison, Wisconsin have created many multi-use trails and bicycle lanes that make these cities very attractive to active people who are looking for a welcoming community in which to settle and raise/flee families.

I know that your job is to make tough decisions.  One decision that I hope you will make is to invest the time and effort to consider this issue.  I believe that you will find that promoting multiple means of transportation in a city creates stronger, happier, healthier communities.  Although automobiles might be the primary way we get around for a long time, as our community grows I feel our choices in transportation should grow as well.  A number of studies (referenced below [and stolen taken from ModeShift Omaha's website]) have documented the economic and social benefits related to developing infrastructure that supports multiple forms of transport.

I hope that you will support this effort to provide a path towards a more flexible and progressive transportation plan for our community by voting to override the mayor’s veto.  Thank you for being a leader in our community and for standing up for what we believe.

                                                            Sincerely,

                                                           Bike Snot OMA

P.S.:  Please stop by so we can go bicycling together.  What size shorts do you wear?

References:

http://www.fastcompany.com/1761989/bike-pedestrian-street-projects-create-more-jobs-than-car-only-projects

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/?term=10.1289/ehp.1103440

http://uar.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/04/28/1078087411403120.abstract?rss=1

http://www.vtpi.org/tranben.pdf

Doom + ginger beer + gloom

September 11, 2014

As I hope you have often noticed, sometimes things are going great.  Other times, as you may have had to admit to yourself, things are not going so well.  As you may also have noticed, sometimes you may want to have a beer from a bottle that does not have a twisty top.  Sometimes this is fine because you have a bottle-opening strategy  that you feel is appropriate.  Other times you encounter difficulties and/or breakage, etc., et al.  Tonight my friend Bob and I experienced a bit of the not going so well/difficulties/injury perspective.  Things started off well enough as we layered up and saddled up to ride our trusty steeds down to Margaritaville to try to finish off at least part of my formidable stash of highly carbonated ginger beer.  Sure it was kind of cool and dreary, all the more reason to get out and try to enjoy what’s left of these technically-still-summer days.  As we rode to M-ville we griped and joked good-naturedly.  We saw a serious-looking fellow flying down the trail on some kind of crazy aggro-unicycle.  

rolandpasnet.blogspot.com

Q:  How does he stop?  

A:  Not applicable.  

We met up with a small but festive group of fellow cyclists at Margaritaville.   They turned out to be well equipped with medical supplies and knowledge, we found out momentarily.  I handed Bob a highly carbonated glass bottle of ginger beer and told him I didn’t have a bottle opener but that there was a grill right here that would probably do the trick.  I did not mean Bob any harm.  The highly carbonated bottle did, however, explode when Bob opened the beer in spectacular fashion.  Unfortunately his hand got sliced up pretty good.  Fortunately a helpful fellow bicyclist had a wrap-up-your-wound style/compression bandage.  He had had it since his Army days.  It provided a secure dressing to the wound as we pedaled somewhat dejectedly back to the parking lot.  Bob seems to be recovering well.  He has described the event as a “lesson learned” in that he has resolved that we should always be equipped with either a bottle opener or a first aid kit when we set out upon the taco trail.

Although completely different, yet somewhat similar, our friendly town of Omaha is now going through a somewhat difficult time.  Parts of our multi-use trails are coveredwith mud.  Our benevolent empress/mayoress seems to be hell bent on ending our glorious years of bicycle ascendancy within the city’s transportation echelon.  It would appear that the mayoress’s veto on creating a multi-modal transportation representative has doomed our town to gloomy Gotham City-like muddiness and traffic.  However, you may grasp for a shard of glass to cut through these bonds of despair by contacting your local city councilperson (especially if your councilperson is Rich Pahls (Rich.Pahls@cityofomaha.org) who may choose to help override the mayoress’s veto.  Rich Pahls?  District 5?!  Holy shit!  That's me!  

Oooooo.  I've actually got something that involves bicycling and typing that might be considered worthwhile!  So I am hoping that our city council will gang bang the mayoress’s veto off the table so we can get on with some good ol’ wholesome bicycle mud-slinging!   I will be sure to provide you with my letter to our venerable city council man/Pahls on the scene.  

http://www.cityofomaha.org/citycouncil/council-members

I am not, however, holding my breasts breath.  My hopes have been dashed by our empress often enough and I feel that it is probably best at this juncture to keep my expectations as low as a slumping, slurpy, slippery mudslide.  Yum!     

Soggy sycling

August 28, 2014

Some say we move through life.  Others, that life moves through us, motion an illusion.  Some days it feels that we are at a fork in the road we are travelling.  Some days it feels like we have found a pear in the road upon which we have stopped to take a photo.  

Some days we cross a mini-mudslide and find a barricade on the other side.  

Other days we feel saturated.  This saturation may be due to sunlight or liquid sunshine.  

Possibly even liquid acid, but that, my friends, is another storey. 

A friend of mine has broached the idea of moving off to Montana to pursue his dream of wild art.  Well that is great!  I support your dream.  My dream has come true since I just started receiving my 1^st of 12 free issues of Outside magazine!  All I had to do was fly 5 or 6,000 miles.   And fortunately I was able to verify that Missoula, Montana is indeed on Outside’s list of best places to live.  So consider that dream validated.  Some have the courage to fight for their dreams, others fight for their armchair to dream from.

I also used to dream of a city where my hardly earned taxpayer’s money supported the work of a man like Carlos Morales who was getting things done downtown.  Kicking arse, taking dames, that kinda shit.  It seems that his time here in our fair to middlin’ city may be nearing its end.  I wish him all the best in whatever endeavors he chooses to undertake in his next engagement. 

Fortunately there may be a glimmer of light (for the many fans of bicycles and Carlos here and abroad) at the end of the tunnel of Mr. Morales’s disengagement.  This, from our friends at ModeShift Omaha. 

 When the City of Omaha budget was released, it did not include the Bicycle Pedestrian Coordinator position. According to Mayor Jean Stothert, the position was no longer necessary because “the purpose of this position, the goals have been reached.”

So, for a moment, that was the outlook. It was bleak.

Today, things are very different. The Mayor acted fairly quickly to create the Active Living Advisory Committee and selected Julie Harris to be its first chair. Win.

Soon thereafter, several months of ongoing discussions between several city departments, Omaha by Design and others culminated in an agreement to create the city’s first Complete Streets policy. Win.

The Metropolitan Area Planning Agency (MAPA) then offered to ramp up its multimodal planning efforts if the city agreed to chip in a few bucks to make it happen. The city obliged. Win.

And finally, a position dedicated to multimodal transportation – a balanced transportation coordinator – was restored into the budget. As it stands today, the City Council approved a position in Public Works and the Mayor agreed to a similar position in Planning. There’s still the possibility of a veto, so we’ll see where this shakes out. Nevertheless, we’ll call it a win. 

Like the immediate future of multimodal transport here in Omaha, like Mr. Morales, and like my friend who dreams of becoming a wild artist, I, too, feel I’ve reached a fork in the road.  

I may gradually cease all blogging activities in a slow, disgraceful manner as I spend more and more time trying to keep our house from collapsing, gardening, and chasing Toddler Snot hither and yon.  This is certainly a possibility.  Hopefully I’ll be able to continue, albeit on an even less regular basis, to offer haphazard, inchoate, insightless drivel to those who can stomach it.  

As I reached my workly place a half a fortnight past I noticed that I had neglected to secure me trousers in me trusty rucksack.   Funny!  I was a little embarrassed, but I figured my time had come.  Luckily Mrs. Snot was kind enough to deliver a pair to me and all I had to do was wear paisley trousers that were a bit tight in the rumpus.  One place where arriving to work with no trousers might not be a problem would be over in bonny Scotland where everyone roams around with either pro-independence kilts, 

http://rt.com/in-vision/edinburgh-protest-scotland-independence/edinburgh-people-gather-rally/

pro-united kilts, 

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/photographers-take-photos-of-david-coburn-mep-of-the-uk-news-photo/451543836

or perhaps even Depends comforting their private parts.  I, for one, am in favor of independence because it is likely to lead to an increase in Highland games and viewings of Braveheart.  I would also like to visit someday and it will be nice not to have to deal with those Lobsterbacks pushing us humble colonists onto a Mayflower and trying to teabag our rebellious nostrils!  And if our honourable United Stateliness is occasionally accused of neo-colonial behavior it’s just because that’s how we grew up – being oppressed by colonialists!  This is not to excuse our behavior in places like Granada or Puerto Rico, but merely to explain it.  Why, even as we serve as the frigid ice cream topping to the spicy, cinnamony cake we call Mexico, so too, we support our maple syruppy northern neighbors who cover us with their sweet stickiness whether we asked them to or not!  All of this is to say that we may have a limited amount of control over the ebb and flow of nations and power, but we can all relate to bicycles.  So let’s get out there and get soaked!

  

Here's what my tighty whities looked like when I got to my working home today.

Yes, those are soggy and slightly gritty skivvies, and no, I did not wear them.  In the words of William Wallace - Frreeeedommm!

Gingerly supporting the stand against the empress's axe!

August 17, 2014

So how have you been?  I know, I know!  Right!?  Let’s catch up over a smoothie sometime. 

In the meantime, you may have noticed that we bicyclers are generally in favor of things that make bicycling safer, easier, better, and that type of thing.  Thusly, we (and by we I mean lots of other bicyclers) have been voicing/stating/representing our support for one young crusader we fondly refer to as Carlos Morales, or Car Mor for brevity.  Car Mor has been approachable and effective as our fair city’s bike czar, yet now our erstwhile civic empress has knocked over the first domino in a line of dominos that is intended to end by knocking Car Mor out of a job!  There have been a number of newspaper articles and letters to the editor concerning Car Mor and bicycling in general.  This makes me feel like this.

That’s right, it makes me happy.  It is that time of year when I have a very large supply of homemade, highly carbonated ginger beer.  It is based on this recipe and is more unique and way easier than what I imagine most brewers deal with when crafting a more traditional blend. 

What it also means is that I am ecstatic that there has been more thought about bicycling ever since Car Mor arrived and that his seemingly impending departure has continued the trend in increasing bicycle awareness.  And although Empress Stothert has promised to put together a volunteer bicycle council, I have some minor experience in this realm as I served as the self-appointed, self-righteous, volunteer bike czar of the University of Nebraska for six months or so, and I can tell you that it is pretty hard getting things done as a volunteer.  I feel that this is due to a variety of reasons such as the following: 

1. we live in a capitalist society and money is a strong motivator
2. it is hard to take a volunteer council very seriously (both by the volunteers and by the public)
3. divisiveness amongst councilteers might cause frustration and ineffectivity
4. anyone who should really be on a volunteer bicycle council would probably rather be out riding their bike

So please re-elect/voice support for Car Mor to retain his rightfully appointed position of unilateral executor of bicycle and pedestrian empowerment.  I think of Car Mor’s role as being similar to that of Judge Dredd as illustrated in large, magazine-type format comics.

I have actually met Car Mor and I do not mean to make light of this situation.  In fact I must admit that I was a bit skeptical of our city's need for a bike czar, but I feel that his time in our city has greatly benefited us bicyclers.  The bike lanes in mid-town and downtown areas make bicycling in these areas a pleasure.  I actually feel kind of welcome on these roads now!  I think that many of us Omahans have come to respect bicyclers right to some road space and to notice bicyclers.  

Also a League of American Bicyclists representative rodearound our town for some time and offered multiple observations and suggestions.  Although I do the same on a volunteer basis, there has been a shocking lack of media attention to my various cockameny notions. 

In addition to basking in the warm glow of bicycle-related media here in our hometown, I have also been out on a taco ride and obtained gainful employment since our last interaction.  The taco ride was a few weeks back, and I happened to encounter my friend and role model Karol who was still wearing a pair of bicycling sandals that she has sported on numerous MS bike rides and RAGBRAIs.  

She also manages to get out and do stuff despite having two young tow-headed scamps to corral on a daily basis.  

The word “classy” comes to mind.

I have also noticed that a wetlands area has naturally begun reclaiming a section of trail that I occasionally traverse.

 

This is just ducky.

In regards to my return to gainful employment, I have found that the shoe fits, but I need to work on my choice in socks!  Let's all put our best foot forward and pedal/paddle our way to harmonious, multi-modal glory!